


Amnesia

by AJ_Hepburn



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, F/M, Mike is so confused the poor guy, Temporary Amnesia, i guess, mike wakes up and has no idea who el is!, mileven amnesia fic that nobody asked for!, or you could call it canon and just set in the future, thinks she's just his hot nurse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 03:58:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14947145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJ_Hepburn/pseuds/AJ_Hepburn
Summary: In which Mike is in an accident and cannot seem to understand why his incredibly beautiful nurse is so friendly.





	Amnesia

He registered the pounding of his skull first.

Crushing, aching, white hot. It pulled him out from deep under; his consciousness swimming from the depths of somewhere so warm and cozy that he even began to fight to stay there. Nevertheless, Mike groaned, pain dragging him up to the cold; bright lights flaring against his eyelids.

_ Beep... _

_...Beep _

_ Beep... _

The fluorescent light hanging over his head buzzed incessantly, mixing up with the beeping in a painful marriage of  _ unbelievably  _ irritating noises.

Eyes squinting, head lolling in an attempt to get the light out of his eyes, Mike blinked a few times, trying to get his vision to quit blurring. He could feel his chin rolling around, sore jaw clenching and unclenching as he came to. 

Blearily gazing around, he caught sight of a chair next to him, pillows and blankets pushed aside and discarded as if someone had quickly got up and left. A table was at his other side, a vase with bright yellow flowers filling his vision with color, lighting up the room. The beeping was continuing on, and as he shifted his eyes back beyond the table, he found it’s source coming from some sort of machine. It was at this moment he suddenly registered that he was lying in a bed. A hospital bed. 

“…Ugh…” Mike moaned sluggishly, twisting his fingers into the bedsheet.

“You’re awake!”

The voice came from out of nowhere and in a flash, there was a person standing over him, long, wavy dark hair draped around a face shadowed by the light.

“Wha—”

“You were starting to worry us there for a bit! How are you feeling?” 

The person pulled back, turning to take a seat in the chair next to his bed. He turned his head, blinking the last remnants of sleep out of his eyes. Upon doing so, upon getting a better glance with a clearer head, Mike felt a blush start crawling up his neck. 

It was a girl. A very,  _ very _ pretty girl.

She pushed her dark hair behind her ears as she sat, her big brown doe eyes landing on him. Her cheeks were soft, with a slight blush to them, tapering down to a gentle smile as she grinned at him. 

The girl was dressed in dark blue hospital scrubs, indicating that she was probably his nurse. 

A beat passed in which Mike just stared at her, eyes wide, not sure if he was still stuck in a dream or not. But then he felt a flare of pain shoot through his wrist, and he remembered she’d asked him a question.

“I’m…I’m hurt?” He answered dumbly, too stricken to really think about anything beyond  _ ouch _ . “I—What happened?”

The girl’s smile dropped a bit, and she shimmied her seat forward in order to reach out and lay her left hand over his. Mike’s eyebrows shot up, his heart hammering embarrassingly at her touch. The incessant beeping from the machine rapidly increased, but if the girl noticed, she didn’t say anything.

_ Thank god, I do not need my incredibly beautiful nurse making fun of me. _

“You were in a car accident last night,” she said softly. “Do you remember that?” Her gentle words rang through his head, bouncing around his skull because  _ oh yeah, that. _

Memories flashed across his mind: driving home from work, the faint glow of the green light as he went into the intersection, a massive truck out of the corner of his eye. Tumbling, twisting, turning. The sharp sting of glass on his cheek, a crushing pain pressing in on his leg. Flashing lights and then…nothing. 

The girl— _ nurse _ —was fumbling with the edge of her scrubs with her free hand. Fingers twisting in and around the fabric. She was still looking at him so strongly, so warmly, her brow furrowed in genuine concern. Mike wondered vaguely if all the nurses were trained to have this wonderful kind of charming, personable bedside manner.

“Yeah…yeah I remember the accident,” he said groggily, voice rough.  The nurse took a noticeable sigh of relief, her soft, wavy hair falling back over her ear. “Is the other driver okay?” He asked, eyebrows furrowing in sudden concern.

At his words, her eyes grew only warmer, the corners of her lips curling up into a small smile. She laughed softly, big brown eyes twinkling, and for a beat Mike saw stars at the edge of his vision because  _ holy shit _ he would do anything to make her laugh again.

_ Stupid idiot, she’s your nurse, stop acting like a fourteen year-old. _

The nurse pulled her hand away, rising from her seat and as she did so, Mike caught the  _ horrifying _ sight of an engagement ring on her finger. 

His heart sunk. 

_ Stupid idiot. _

She walked around the chair and pulled a pitcher of water out from behind another bouquet of flowers. 

“You would be concerned with anybody but yourself,” she laughed quietly. Then, after a beat, “Yeah, yeah the other driver got away without a scratch. That  _ bastard _ ,” She hissed, voice dripping with venom as she began pouring water into two paper cups. “Drunk off his ass, couldn’t see more than a foot in front of him.” 

Mike’s eyes widened dramatically. Shifting onto his right elbow, he sat up a bit on the bed, studying her eyes narrowing in clear anger, her lips pursing. 

Mike didn’t know a hell of a lot about being a nurse, but he was  _ pretty _ sure they weren’t allowed to go around saying stuff like  _ that  _ to their patients, no matter the circumstance. Mike paused for a minute, gazing at her with quiet fascination.

The nurse walked back over slowly, cup in hand.

“Here, Mike,” her voice had gone soft again. “I’m sure you’re thirsty.”

He took the water gladly, drinking fast in order to shake off how his blood ran red hot when she said his name. 

Setting the cup down, he noticed for the first time that there was a thick blue cast on his left arm, cropped just before the elbow. Frowning in concern, he prodded the cast gently with his right hand, long fingers running along the rough material.

Mike glanced up at the beautiful ( _ engaged, dammit _ ) nurse, who was watching him closely.  _ Shouldn’t she be giving me a diagnosis or something? _

“What…?”

She pushed her hair behind her ears again, in what appeared to be a nervous tic. Sitting again in her chair by his bed, the gorgeous nurse grimaced. 

“Oh, uh…so in the crash you broke your arm and, um, you shattered your knee.  _ And _ they think you’ve probably got a concussion. You, uh, you smacked your head pretty hard on the steering wheel.”

Mike winced, his forehead pulsing sharply at the memory. Frowning, his eyes drifted towards his leg, where indeed a huge brace was wrapped around his left knee. His long legs stretched all the way down the bed, nearly tipping off the edge.

“They used a lot of fancy medical terms for everything…but I can’t remember.” The nurse lifted her left hand and rubbed tiredly at her eyes, yawning softly. As she did so, two things struck Mike. 

One: not only was there an engagement ring, there was a wedding band too. His beautiful, caring, oh-so worried nurse was not just engaged, she was  _ married. Dammit. _

And, two: his beautiful, caring, oh-so worried nurse didn’t seem to know or remember medical language, which struck Mike as more than a little bit concerning considering she was supposed to be taking care of him.

Before he could raise any questions, though, the nurse was moving forward once more, this time clasping his good hand in both of hers, squeezing gently. Mike’s heart pounded against his sore rib cage, his own fingers wrapping around hers in what felt like the most natural action, like he’d been doing it forever. He opened his mouth to speak, but the nurse cut him off.

“Nancy will be back soon. She explained it all to me, I’m sure she’ll explain it all to you too.”

“Nancy?” 

Mike couldn’t help the confusion laced through his voice. How did this nurse know his sister? Sure, Nancy was also a nurse, but she worked in a hospital up in New York, how could  _ this _ nurse know her? Did all nurses know each other?

The beautiful woman nodded, gently squeezing his hand, and Mike was suddenly struck with shame that he didn’t even know her name, yet she knew so much about him. “Yeah, she was actually on the way home to visit your mom when I called with the news.”

Mike gazed at the nurse in complete perplexion. Had he been unconscious longer than he thought? What was the connection he was missing?  _ Maybe she’s one of Nancy’s friends from medical school. _

“O-Oh, well, I’m…glad she’s here…” he said awkwardly, trying to choose his words wisely. 

He opened his mouth to say more, but suddenly a flash of pain ripped through his skull, lighting his brain up with white hot jabs.

“Shhhhit,” Mike groaned, closing his eyes and reaching up to hold his head with his good hand.

“Mike, are you alright?” 

The nurse was closer now, she’d moved to  _ sit _ on the bed with him, leaning forward to cup his chin with a worried expression.

Mike froze, his eyes sliding back open slowly as the pain faded to the background, replaced only with the soft touch of her fingers on his face. Replaced with the realization that her face was  _ lethally _ close to his, enough that he could see every freckle, every lash, every inch of her gazing at him with so much concern it should probably be illegal. 

_ Aren’t there rules against nurse/patient ‘things’… _

“Yeah…I’m…fine, it’s…better,” he stuttered, blown away that she wasn’t moving back. “It just…just hurt for a bit…” 

She sighed, her eyes glowing, lips pursing.

Her thumb brushing against his cheek was so soft, so…intimate, that Mike just sat motionless, half-revelling in contentment, half-stuck in shock. He just gazed at her, at this  _ dream _ of a nurse who was so concerned and so gentle and  _ so _ enchanting. Her right hand drifted to brush Mike’s floppy hair off of his forehead, sweeping it out of his eyes.

Then, in a bewildering, unexpected, yet not-so-unpleasing turn of events, the nurse closed the distance between them, pressing her lips against his with a sigh of,  _ “I was so worried.” _

The beeping on the machine reached drastic levels, sounding off with every frantic beat of his heart. Mike sat frozen for a moment, his eyes wide and lips unmoving beneath hers. 

Yeah, she was probably the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and  _ hell yeah _ on any other day he’d love to be kissing her. But wasn’t she his nurse? And didn’t she have a  _ husband _ ?

Gently lifting his hands, Mike gripped onto her arms, tugging her back away from him softly. She stopped kissing him immediately, pulling back and gazing at him with a slightly confused, and hurt (but still so goddamn  _ cute _ ) expression. Lips pursed and eyes fluttering.

“Uhh,” he started, “Sorry…but I think you’re usually supposed to know someone’s name before you go around kissing them…” 

He tried to say it kindly, to let her down gently, but her face just twisted up in confusion anyways. Eyebrows pulling together, head tilting slightly, she stared at him with the same intense ferocity as his old high school math teacher (who was always looking to catch cheaters).

He tried smiling jokingly, but it came off more awkward than anything. 

“Plus,” he tried again, avoiding eye contact, “I don’t think nurses are allowed to…you know… _ be _ with patients…especially  _ married _ nurses…”

She just kept staring at him, face unmoving, eyes roaming, searching for something Mike couldn’t tell.

“Not that, not that you’re not  _ attractive _ , or anything!” He rambled on when she didn’t say anything after an embarrassing pause. “Because you are! Really, like, totally gorgeous and all that!”  _ Oh god. _ “You’re like, really really beautiful and all, but you’re obviously married!”  _ Shut up holy fuck. _ “And I’m like, in the hospital and all, so we probably shouldn’t—”

“Mike,” she said suddenly, cutting off his  _ horrendous _ word vomit. Her eyes were locked on him, her voice more serious than at all in the past ten minutes. “What’s my name?”

Mike paused, mouth hanging open mid-sentence. 

“Uh, you haven’t told me yet. That I remember. Maybe you did and I just didn’t catch it?” He tried, praying that the hurt that was crawling up her face would go away.

The nurse moved back, staring at him agape.

“Mike, how old are you?”

“Uh…twenty-four…” he answered slowly, not sure what relevance it held.

“Where do you live?”

“…Chicago…”

“What’s your mom’s name?”

“Uh, Karen.”

“And who am I?” Her voice went soft at this, not out of hurt, just out of confusion.

“I don’t…you’re my nurse, right?”

The girl shuffled off the bed slowly, eyes wide with perplexion. “Mike,” she twisted her fingers at the edge her scrubs. “It’s…it’s me. I’m—”

“Is he up yet?”   

Both Mike and the nurse twisted their heads towards the door as Nancy strolled in. She was dressed in casual jeans and a sweater, and had a tray of coffees clutched in her hands. 

“Oh! I see he is. Sorry if I interrupted anything,” Nancy grinned slyly. She gestured towards the girl with a lazy hand. “Oh, and I couldn’t find any more clothes, so the scrubs are just going to have to do for now. Just try not to spill these coffees too.” 

Nancy strolled forward, seemingly not catching the dead air hanging in the room. She set the tray down on the table, fumbling with straws and lids before looking over at Mike. “How are you feeling, Mike?”

“I-I, uh,” he stammered, looking between his sister and the (maybe not) nurse. “I think I’m—”

“Nancy, can I talk to you for a minute outside?” The girl cut in sharply, her voice frenzied and a bit panicked. 

Nancy gazed between the two of them, frowning slightly. “Sure El, is everything—” but before she could finish, she’d been swept out of the room.

Mike sat bewildered, staring at the door that was gradually closing behind them.

_ El? _

At her name, a warmth spread through his chest, filling up his heart and washing over him, grounding him to the moment. There was something…something so  _ familiar _ to that name, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

He didn’t have time to dwell, for Nancy burst back through the door not a moment later, eyes alight with concern.

“Mike, you don’t remember El?” She all but snapped, arms crossing over her chest like she was  _ mad _ at him. The nurse—or El, he guessed—stood right behind Nancy, biting her lip nervously and staring at Mike with furrowed brows. Even now, as she looked so worried she may pass out, his not-nurse was still so undeniably pretty that Mike felt guilty for not recognizing her.

“Um, not really…” he said slowly, almost like he was apologizing.

Nancy took a step forward, moving her hands to her hips. Mike gulped. “You’re telling me you have no idea who this woman is?” She said again, more insistent this time.

“No, okay, I don’t—”

“Let me get this straight,” Nancy butt in again, expression incredulous. Mike felt the blood drain from his face at the look of fury on his sister’s face. “You, Michael Wheeler, the  _ sappiest _ , most in-love, exhaustingly happy guy on the planet, don’t recognize your own  _ wife _ ?!”

Mike’s heart all but stopped beating. “I don’t—my  _ what _ ?” He whipped his eyes away from his sister, landing them on El, who was staring at him with an arched brow. “ _ You’re _ my  _ wife _ ?!”

El stepped forward past Nancy, walking until she was sitting again in the chair next to his bed. Mike blanched and watched her come, time moving in slow motion as the cogs started turning in his head. He pinched the side of his hand slyly, sure he was malfunctioning, hallucinating, dreaming,  _ anything. _

_ This can’t be real. There is no way she’s my— _

But his thought was cut short as she took his hand again, his bad hand this time. She pulled his ring finger forward gently, very conscious that he was still sore and in pain, and brought it closer to the light.

“That’s the tan from your wedding ring. They had to take it off when they put the cast on because your fingers were swelling.”

Mike stared down, shocked to see that  _ yeah _ , while there was no band there, a ring of skin sat lighter than the rest of his hand, circling his finger very clearly and obviously. He looked back up at her, at El, and felt himself on the threshold of  _ something _ , at the edge of a tidal wave ready to crash.

“I…B-But you’re in nursing scrubs?” He said incredulously, eyes wide but hand not leaving hers.

El laughed softly, glancing down at the dark blue hospital clothes she adorned. “Yeah, well. My other clothes didn’t look as good painted in coffee. These are Nancy’s, she had a spare pair in her car.”

Mike nodded minutely, trying to wrap his head around everything.

“So…you’re not my nurse?” He said slowly, barely able to choke out the next words. “You’re…you’re my  _ wife _ ?” 

El smiled and Mike felt his brain short-circuit. The unending beeping was rising once more, but he didn’t care this time. She sat near his good leg on the bed, intertwining their fingers together. “Married for two years, together for ten.”

Mike blanched.  _ Ten years?! _

“I-I’m your husband?” He said again, testing the words out, not really believing them.

And then she was leaning in again, time slowing to a crawl as she cupped his cheek and gazed lovingly into his eyes. “Yep. And thank goodness for it.”

She closed the gap between them, softly pressing her lips against his. This time, he was ready for it, and gently kissed back. His mind was reeling, head spinning around and heart hammering ceaselessly. The sight of her, the image of her leaning in to kiss him, the feel of him returning the favor sparked a wave of emotions, unleashed a sea of memories to start flooding in.

As his brain was putting the pieces together, as he was starting to remember, El pulled back and stroked his cheek gently, grinning at him with those soft, kind eyes, her hair falling so elegantly around her face. He couldn’t stop the words that came next.

“But you’re so hot!”

Both Nancy and El burst out into laughter, giggles erupting around the hospital room. 

“Alright Romeo, I’m going to go get your  _ real _ doctor,” Nancy laughed. “Make sure that head of yours isn’t permanently wonky.”

She left and then it was just him and El again, him and his  _ wife _ . His heart felt all wavy at the thought of it.

She—his wife—was grinning at him, eyes alight and smile so gentle. “I’m glad you still think I’m pretty, even when you don’t know it’s me.”

Mike frowned, vague traces of memories coming and going. “Do I not tell you you’re beautiful all the time?” 

El smiled again, leaning back in and running her thumb across his cheek. “Oh you do, but it’s nice to know even if we were strangers you’d still like me.”

Mike scoffed, a smile inching onto his own face as she leaned forward and pressed their lips together again.  _ How could he ever not think she’s gorgeous. She’s his wife after all. _

**Author's Note:**

> follow me @janes-mike on tumblr :)


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